What 5 tips would you give new players to the game?

[somekidfromno]

Ill try not to repeat what others have said already:

1. Notice how your vehicles little blue or red tag designating the name of the unit (as in, m60a3, 2 AUF1s, etc etc) is lit up. Is it totally opaque? then your unit is openly visible, or has been spotted by enemy recon. If it is a little greyish/seethrough, your unit is HIDDEN. Very important, this. If they enemy can't see you, he can't expect you.

2. Related to the above: use the terrain. Reverse slopes for preparing assaults, lynchpin forests that deny access to areas or that give great fields of fire over likely enemy approaches.

3. Try and imagine how you would approach from the enemy's side. With time this skill will develop more, but it is vitally important not to just focus on your gameplan but try to anticipate theirs. As others have stated, don't get tied down to specific territory. Keep your forces fluid and reactionary, while at the same time pressing your plans ahead. Being static inevitably ends in defeat.

4. Helicopters will autoland on open terrain. To keep them safe from possible arty sniping and the like, keep them airborne above hedges or forests or lakes, BUT MAKE SURE THAT THIS WAITING AREA IS SAFE. very important for recon helis. if they land, they're next to useless.

5. Lay ground work for your assaults. want to take something? know the enemy is there? shell the area a little (2-6 volleys) to maybe shake them up. Use flame tanks to shoot a little into forests and give your men a foothold. When actively in the assault, remember that the ATTACK button is your friend, especially in forests. It will force your units to stop and engage the first target they meet, potentially keeping them from moving further in and getting annihilated. this can go both ways, leaving your men stationary may make them arty fodder. be observant of incoming fire. If supporting others, flame tanks will stop and fire over the heads of allied units to demolish opposition.

[arminiuz]

Just a noob question,

what is the best possible way to recon forests? I've had it so many times now that my inf in forest gets killed by arty. How can the enemy cover up the forests properly? Everytime i get punished with arty i send Luchs or Fernspäher in order to find his recon units but in the most cases i can't find it near my forest. So i guess they are just using recon helis. But how can they cover up an entire forest while beeing so far away with their helicopters?

[Gronank]

You don't necessarily need to see something to shoot at it. If you know units are in a forrest but cant see them, you are perfectly free to shell it.

[arminiuz]

True but if its a wide range forest, and I'm sending my troops up or down and the arty follow my troops, its obvious that the enemy can somehow see them

[somekidfromno]

you might have units visible at the edge of the forest that for a moment are visible and your enemy corrects accordingly.

[chema1994]

1. Defend the command vehicle and use the armored ones if possible
2. Beware of air, get always at least, some cheap AA
3. Communicate with your team, if you don't like teamplay play 1v1
4. Artillery isn't the solution to everything
5. Avoid rushing

EDIT: 5+1 RECON, RECON AND RECON

[Urobulos]

True but if its a wide range forest, and I'm sending my troops up or down and the arty follow my troops, its obvious that the enemy can somehow see them

Sometimes you can make an educated guess. Often you will see a flanking group obliterate a screening unit, which is there just to give you a heads up when it gets destroyed, and continue to the target (CV usually) along the shortest possible axis. Lost count of the times I lose a unit, then order Malkas to shell the area a bit closer to me a minute later and end up with a bunch of numbers popping out with destroyed infantry and APC's.

If you think enemy has recon on you, a good idea is to save the replay and rewatch the match. I had one recently when I got arty sniped with one CV and it turned out I missed a jeep in a hedge. I did a scan with my recon, but was just a couple of meters away from detecting it. Auf1 corrected arty shots at 5km range results in a short life span for BRDM 2U.

Also if enemy arty is close enough, certain arty (Dana and Auf1, to a certain extent Malkas, Paladins and Mstas) are accurate enough that even with uncorrected shots the circle will be narrow enough to obliterate your light units. Actually when shelling a forest, often it is preferable to have uncorrected fire. You are saturating the place with shells. With corrected shots, after a few salvos, all the fire goes in 5x5 metre square. Malkas are very good at shelling forests, due to decent ROF, good accuracy and HE7 shell. Dana's and Auf1 are better at sniping particular targets, i.e. enemy AA, ATGM and CV's.

I'll try to post a replay or two later today.

[Dkong08]

Just a noob question,

what is the best possible way to recon forests? I've had it so many times now that my inf in forest gets killed by arty. How can the enemy cover up the forests properly? Everytime i get punished with arty i send Luchs or Fernspäher in order to find his recon units but in the most cases i can't find it near my forest. So i guess they are just using recon helis. But how can they cover up an entire forest while beeing so far away with their helicopters?

I think the best way to spot units in the forest is sending in a small recon inf unit to scout the edge of the forest. They will often not be spotted, and they do a fairly good job at spotting the enemy.

Also, often times the game allows you to make corrected shots if you can't spot the target. However, you will need a unit next to the forest in order to make these shots.

But, IMO, the best way to negotiate units in a forest is going around that forest all together. The advantages of not being in a forest, is that you the ability to be mobile, and this gives you more opportunities to engage more targets on more terrain than staying anchored behind a tree.

[goodman528]

Just a noob question,

what is the best possible way to recon forests? I've had it so many times now that my inf in forest gets killed by arty. How can the enemy cover up the forests properly? Everytime i get punished with arty i send Luchs or Fernspäher in order to find his recon units but in the most cases i can't find it near my forest. So i guess they are just using recon helis. But how can they cover up an entire forest while beeing so far away with their helicopters?

three solutions:

1) hit with artillery and see what dies.
2) send in 4x10 points polish inf, unload and sweep.
3) sweep with inf carriers you no longer need.

[Flybefree]

Agreed, recon by fire. In this case an empty APC is my first choice to confirm an area is clear. If the APC dies there is no easy way to know what is in there...clearing means good INF in good numbers.

Shaun